Starting Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Progress Diary 2018

Treatment and medication
1

Hi Everyone,

If it's ok, this will be a diary of my progress on Duloxetine, which i have started to take today for the first time

I have started on 60mg, of the generic brand (Duloxetine)

Below is some background about myself, and then in the next post below is the beginning of the diary...

I am male, aged 44

I am a long term sufferer of depression and anxiety. i have taken a break for the past several months from taking any meds at all. my reasons were, firstly, in the past when i tried all sorts of meds (all the usual ones such as sertraline, citalopram, escitalopram, venlafaxine, mirtazapine, trazodone, and some others), the side effects i got tended to make me stop

also, sometimes in the past i stopped taking a med because i was feeling better after about a year of taking it. however, on stopping, then my depression/anxiety would always return (sometimes many months later if eg. something stressful happened in my life..)

the side effects i would always seem to get no matter what med i take, was feeling tired/sleepy all day, along with feeling that i wasn't getting any deep restful sleep but instead too much REM 'dream' sleep, so, brain firing away all night resulting in feeling exhausted on waking

i have decided to start antidepressants (duloxetine 60mg) today regardless of any side effects i get, because over the last month or so, i have been having really horrendous bouts of severe, irrational, negative thinking, which includes suicidal rumination, which i just cannot get any control over. over the past months, i have tried mindfulness, meditation, breathing exercises, healthy diet, exercise (jogging), and some CBT

i realise now (after a horrendous couple of past weeks containing bouts of very severe depression), that i MUST STAY ON MEDS, even if i get side effects, including tiredness all day and over-dreaming/vivid dreams, because severe depression and suicidal thoughts are both unbearable and can be very dangerous. also, i figure that even if duloxetine turns out to be unsuitable for me, i can always go ahead and switch to something else, the important thing being i am 'back on the path' of taking meds, rather than being off them for several months meaning my depression can really sink in and take hold, causing so much harm

i am working alongside my doctor who is really good. i am currently working part-time, and have been worried about losing my job, well actually, worried about absolutely everything but that's depression/anxiety for you!

i'm going to try my best to take duloxetine 60mg for one month, and then re-assess things from there 

Duloxetine 60mg (generic brand)

i picked up the prescription today so i can begin taking the med. a quick note about the previous night and morning i had, it was horrible, really bad depression and irrational negative thinking. woke a few times in the night, found it difficult to get back to sleep. over the past few weeks this has been a common occurrence. then, stuck with a depressed/anxious mind for around half of the day which tends to improve later in the day/evening (perhaps this is diurnal mood variation...

 

2

apologies all, this diary is now cancelled due to a reassessment by my doc and change of strategy.  best of luck with your recoveries friends

3

Hi I am sorry that you are feeling like this. Have you had a sleep study done?

​Has your dr checked your thyroid hormones, vitamin D , Vit B12 levels or done a full blood screening for anaemia?

The drugs you mention do cause side effects and can make things worse.

​They affect the brain and suppress the production of endorphins so recent studies have shown. The brain can recover but needs time. Exercise stimulates the production of endorphins. Take care 

 

4

hi all, i wanted to give an update to how things have been going

it turned out that i continued to stay on duloxetine 60mg

i have also made some other changes which i will detail in a moment

firstly, my progress has turned out to be excellent.  i have been taking duloxetine 60mg for one month now, and i am feeling much much better that one month ago.  i had severe depression and anxiety one month ago but now this has been greatly reduced.  i am not experiencing morning anxiety anymore.  i am also no longer plagued by suicidal thoughts or negative thinking.  i am no longer in the state where i would say i belonged in hospital.  i would not say i am fully 'cured' though,  but doing much better and overall very well.

the other changes i made, are as follows:

my diet now consists of the following things, each of which i eat either every day, or every other day (or at least 3 times a week):

bananas, apples, oranges, avocado, boiled eggs, carrots, spinach, green vegetables/salad/leaf, chicken, walnuts, almonds, beans.  this is the main diet, and i might occasionally eat some other things here and there which are not as healthy, but it is important to keep up the above foods due to the wide range of vitamins and minerals they provide (these listed foods are known to help with depression and anxiety)

i also make sure i get some exercise each day, even if that is, just to do some pushups (note, you can do pushups on your knees, you do not have to do pushups the usual way which is using your toes, which is a difficult way to do it).  doing it using your knees is much easier, i tend to do 10-30 pushups a few times through the day.  this is an excellent way to burn off anxiety and negative energy.

finally, if i find that my mind and thoughts are being negative, i say to myself "no",  "no thanks",  "not today"  or "not now" ... or i might say "things are ok",   "don't be hard on yourself",   "there are people better off than you but there are also people worse off than you",  "you are doing well"  or "just do your best and don't worry" .. and so on.  note that i expect this is made possible by the duloxetine working for me, as, otherwise as many of us already know, when depression and anxiety is too severe, then it doesn't matter what you try to say to yourself to feel better.  it often will not work because you are too unwell to 'think' your way out of the depression/anxiety.

so to summarise, i am doing really well taking duloxetine 60mg, although it can take a few weeks to get working.  you should know by 1 month if it is working or is likely to work for you (it even says that in the leaflet).

i hope i have been helpful to anyone reading this and rest assured, there really is a med out there (as well as other things you can do such as diet and exercise) which WILL defeat your depression and anxiety, or at least, lower it down to such low levels that it is not a big problem for you anymore and you can enjoy life again and do things.

so if duloxetine is not the right med for you, try others until you find what works for you.  keep going, and keep trying.  i assure you one month ago i was in a horrible state of depression and anxiety, and one month later i am feeling fine again.  i want to live again and feel good.  i assure you can also feel this way, even though your depression and anxiety will tell you otherwise.

5

Great report again.  You mentioned the suicidal thoughts and I went thru the same thing.   Out of the blue when I wasn't even feeling depressed, my thots turned negative and my mind would go down that negative path.  I told my doc that if he doesn't already know, prescribing this med to a young or elderly person may pose a problem with suicidal ideation and they should be warned.  I too have taken just about every anti-depressant and anti-anxiety med available and find that Cymbalta seems to be the best so far and I've been at this med experimenting for the past 25 years.  Glad to know that you are doing so much better.

6

Wow im so glad your feeling better im on 30mg of duloxetine and 80mg of parpanol i feel so drained but only been 15 days gonna stick it out and hopefully i feel alot better just like you i too have depression and aniexty and just want to be happy again and enjoy life ....marie

7

the negative thoughts issue is an interesting one when it comes to depression; scientists and professionals admit that they are not actually sure if negative thoughts fuel depression (ie. if we think too negatively then we experience/increase depression), or, the negative thoughts are caused by depression itself (i personally believe that negative thoughts come when we have depression, and it is unfair to say that it is the sufferer who has brought on the depression him or herself by thinking negatively.  some evidence of this is you will often find people who have lives which are satisfactory and meaningful to them so eg. they like their jobs, families, have meaningful social connections, like where they live, exercise, eat well, etc,   but they still find they are plagued by negative thoughts, even though they can't really see or 'figure out' why they are experiencing that).

regarding suicidal thoughts, from my own personal experience the worst time of being plagued by very low and suicidal thinking was when tried to go several months without taking any depression medication at all.  i instead just tried to do things like mindfulness and meditation, strict diet, exercise, trying to keep positive and so on.   as the months went on though the depression and anxiety got so intense and along came the suicidal thoughts due to my depression/anxiety being greater (much greater) than my coping skills.

i think although there are reports that certain meds like the popular antidepressants can cause suicidal thoughts, the main thing which causes suicidal thoughts is depression/anxiety or any illness which is greater than your coping skills  (or an illness which plagues you with negative thinking, depression being one of them).

the 'feeling worse before feeling better' effect which is often ween when starting eg. ssri meds or similar, doesnt help matters of course, which is why on so many forums and the advice you see, is people saying 'hang in there' and 'keep going' to those starting out on a new course of meds, trying to encourage them that although they may experience some real hell as their body adjust to new meds, that there really often is light just around the corner, and to keep going and remind yourself just how strong and brave you are to keep fighting, and through all the pain and suffering to always hold on to some positivity and optimism

8

hi marie wishing you the best,  15 days is early days of course but do find some comfort in the fact that you are on the road to recovery and it's only a matter of time ok (your depression/anxiety might tell you different but dont worry about that, it's good to remind yourself that whatever you think, it's not actually real, it's just a thought in your head and nothing more).    along the way we can adjust meds and doses until we find what works for us.  some people dont like the idea of having to find the right meds for them,  but i think it would be much worse if there were less meds to choose from.   having more meds means more chances us to find the right ones for us.  sure it can take some time to get on the right meds/dose,  but time is something we have

9

Can you suggest medication for someone with Long qt syndrome and epilepsy. Thanks

10

hello harriet do you mean which antidepressant to take if you have long QT syndrome and epilepsy?  if that is the question then i think generally the doctor would try certain antidepressants which tend to have better acceptability (tolerability) than others. there are some results i saw recently online which involved looking at 117 antidepressant studies to see which ones were most effective and also which were most acceptable (tolerable) to the subjects.  looking at the results, some of the higher rated antidepressants regarding acceptability and also effectiveness were sertraline, citalopram and escitalopram

11

Which study was this? I will pass on the info to my GP, cardiologist and Professor of Neurology and epilepsy as the drugs in particular that you have stated are in fact totally contraindicated. I am sorry to have to write this in Public but people may take your advice with dire consequences.

12

hi harriet, the forum does not allow the posting of internet links to other websites so i cannot post the link here, but i will send you a private message now with the link so you can see the study results for yourself

13

"I am sorry to have to write this in Public but people may take your advice with dire consequences"

i agree,

unfortunately this internet forum does not allow users to delete posts they have previously submitted.

so the only option now it seems is to ignore everything i said.  good luck.